South East Ontario has ticks- we watch the cats like stink!

Daisy has a black spot on her nostril (left), Dorah is larger

I've been vigilant. Every time a cat comes indoors we inspect it. I grab a small piece of tape and remove the little ones before they become attached. Easy peasy. With two white cats it is pretty simple to spot them. The white twins have just turned 1 year old. Peculiar that Buster (2), being black, either moves faster or they don't like him. Maybe he removes them. Sadie (8), the queen, doesn't go out quite so much. She gets ticked off with the twins.

By June 21st we had found and removed 76 ticks. By July 10th we were up to 80. Things slowed down in the summer. We were only finding one or two a week. Late August, they picked up again and we are up to about 85. We've been finding a few more every other day or so, one was on Daisy's cheek yesterday. I've stopped keeping track.

Tick Report August 30th
Dorah: 36; Daisy: 42; Buster: 4; Sadie: 1; Jenn: 1; and 1 was found ambling around the cat bed in the Muskoka room. Another one bites the dust!
I've only found 3 or 4 fleas, which are larger and easier to spot.

All cats have been treated with Revolution, as the problem is so bad this year. It's not cheap, but if you are a pet owner, you must take responsibility for your pets.
Advantage treats the cats for fleas, but the ticks were ubiquitous. With lots of rain, they've been happily reproducing and looking for a blood meal. Ticks need a blood meal to lay eggs, as do mosquitoes.

Manitoba's website (below) has excellent photos of the ticks in various states, and shows the difference between dog ticks, wood ticks, and black-legged ticks. Either way, get them off of your pet! Most of ours are likely wood ticks.

Identifying Blacklegged Ticks | Lyme Disease | Enviromental Health ...

www.gov.mb.ca › ... › Environmental Health › Lyme Disease

Blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) exist in three active stages: larva, nymph and adult. The life cycle of blacklegged ticks takes at least three years to complete.

We take many forest walks. The cats enjoy it. It is good exercise. Daisy is the tree climbing queen. She is so wee, that she can go high, and climb down.

Poor Daisy and the dock spider

Dorah had a good day in the dirt

Queen Sadie on her throne!
(Don't tell her it is a doggie bed!)

They are very clean cats.

Hot work, running in the heat.
But they love it!

Twerps on the table

Sadie in the forest

Down in the meadow

Camera-Critters #282

August rainfall began on August 1st

August 22nd

With a bang. After last year's drought, this August (2013) the 166.5mm total rain is most welcome. We had a total of 1.7mm in August, 2012. We drove to Bon Echo Park Aug. 22nd. It was quite a rainy drive with thunder and lightning.

Driving was a bit tricky, Aug. 22nd

30 mm by 1:30 p.m.
Total 34.5 mm Aug. 1st

Aug. 22

It poured all day Aug 1st!

AUGUST	mm
1-Aug	34.5
2-Aug	8
6-Aug	Trace
7-Aug	Trace
8-Aug	8
12-Aug	6
13-Aug	2
14-Aug	Trace
22-Aug	48
25-Aug	Trace
26-Aug	42
30-Aug	18
	166.5

Sitting pretty- the hummer

I keep trying!

Bird watching season isn't over with looming Labour Day, however, the bird population does change. The blackbirds have gone from my feeder, as have the rose-breasted grosbeaks.

As do many of us, I provide bird feeders, as well as encouraging flowers, for my birds.

This indoor plant, a fuchsia, I pop outdoors in the summer. The hummingbirds love it. It's taken some time to bloom.


It is easier said than done, to photograph them. I sit on the back deck, and wait for that tell-tale sound of their wings humming. A cat is usually on the back deck with me. This discourages them somewhat. When I pick up the camera, they get antsy.

Even if the felines are out patrolling the forest, the hummers get ticked off. They would fly halfway between myself and the flowers, and buzz, giving me the eye as if to scare me away. They are happier at the front, with the real hummingbird feeder, but, again, photos are tricky!

Pretty Rufous hummingbird on my horse chestnut

It's orange wasn't visible until it turned its head.

Goldfinch and chickadee share

In the front I have some sunflowers that have gone to seed. The birds are content to share with one another. The sunflowers have been hosting all sorts of bees and wasps. They now lean over, heads drooping with the weight of the ripe seeds. The cycle of life, and the cycle of the season, is nearly complete. Days shorten, temperatures moderate.

Eastern tiger swallowtail on phlox

Swallowtail likes the petunias as much as the hummingbirds!

Bee in balloon flower

Fieldwork – what a place of natural creation!

Scott Dobson's fencing is famous in Lanark County.
He built us a fence and, later due to tourists who  a gate.

This is a project in Lanark County that gives

You need a Fieldwork map!

large field

me an appreciation of nature, beauty, art.
Fieldwork: land/art/exploration is hard to explain. You just have to view it.

You begin by pulling up to one of Scott Dobson's sheep fences.

Scott built us our front fence. Fencing in Lanark Country is interesting in that they couldn't dig down, and had to devise fences that would stand alone. There are about a dozen different styles.

A fence is a good barrier to the highway.
Later, he built our gate, when we found tourists driving in our driveway and up to our home to take photos of our art work. We drove around looking at gates, here were our choices!

The Eastern kingbirds are busily
catching bugs in the field.

Fieldwork is a delightfully peaceful spot. The lower pine forest is amazing, with the yarn bombing. There is research to show that being in nature provides much emotional solace, and it certainly cannot hurt. The field is full of Eastern kingbirds, grabbing bugs.

Hubby walking down the path

Yes, that is me wearing a sculpture

Wearable sculpture